I like schmaltz

Christmas is finally here. After the trees, the tinsel, the weaselly cries of 'Happy Holidays', the door-to-door choirs touting for cans of beans (really), I got the equivalent of a Christmas spirit horse pill at the Egyptian this weekend: seven movies in three days for an inflation-busting $28 (plus $8.25 parking) in one of the most comfortable and well-designed cinemas in the universe.
Since American Cinematheque took it over, the Egyptian has effectively gone off-piste apart from the occasional preview like tomorrow night's members-only Charlie Wilson's War. Instead, it runs an eclectic mix of the old and the older, grouped in seasons such as Cinecon in the weekend running up to Labor Day. They give the place a club feel, though you wouldn't want to invite most of the audiences home to meet the family, and the Egyptian very quickly feels like home.
According to Imdb there are more than 500 films with Christmas in the title, and that applied to only three in the Egyptian selection - White Christmas, A Christmas Carol and Christmas in Connecticut. So if you add in seasonal films that duck a Christmas title, such as this weekend's Miracle on 34th Street, plus those with plots that happen to be located around Christmas - The Thin Man was a case in point this weekend - there must be well over 1,000 that could have qualified. The overwhelming majority, sadly, are just potboilers aimed at turning a dollar or two, such as the toecurlingly entitled Winnie the Pooh and Christmas Too, so maybe American Cinematheque did well to come up with a respectable seven. Even then, last night's selections - The Thin Man and Christmas in Connecticut - which are just period pieces, light, frothy and very forgettable. You could say the same about The Shop Around the Corner and White Christmas, which for me left only three that really said something about the Christmas season as it was celebrated in the 20th century, when sentiment and commercialism fought a fairly equal battle. In the 19th century, when the modern Christmas trappings were invented, sentiment predominated for those who could afford to indulge, and for the past 20 years or more the business side has taken over.
The big three for me are Miracle on 34th Street, It's A Wonderful Life and A Christmas Carol. All rely on a massive suspension of disbelief - which is true of Christmas as a whole - but all point to the goodness which can be drawn out of human beings in the right circumstances. We like to dismiss this as schmaltz (Jewish cynicism has a lot to answer for) or saccharin-laden sentimentality, maybe because we don't like to admit it exists, speaking as it does of a softness that sits uncomfortably with the modern mood, and stamps SAP on our foreheads for the benefit of the thieves, rogues, conmen and other undesirables whose life seems to be dedicated to parting us from our every last penny.
But the stories that have lasted have been those that highlight, discuss and celebrate eternal truths. And, even now, much of our lives is based on trust and an assumption that the next person will treat us decently and with respect. Many don't, which is why we have to be on our guard nearly all the time. But, just as some people retreat to a church to escape the daily struggle and lift their hearts for a while, so a trip to a shrine like the Egyptian can do a similar job at a Christmas weekend. It's worth the modest entry money and more just to come outside feeling good about yourself, having been reminded what can be.